


Beached

by Vita_S_West



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Day At The Beach, Deep Conversations, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Light Angst, Minor Angst, Sleepy Cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 04:23:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15878457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vita_S_West/pseuds/Vita_S_West
Summary: After Finn and Poe find a beach, Rey and Finn (finally) have a day off and some soft moments. Set after The Last Jedi





	Beached

**Author's Note:**

> pls enjoy! set in the aftermath of tlj.

Their arrival on the moon of Sumuda, on the far side of the Outer Rim, was a welcome relief to the surviving members of the Resistance. Even though their numbers were greatly depleted, the Millennium Falcon still felt cramped. The first few candidates for the new base had been ruled out because they would not provide enough cover from First Order scouts, and the next few because they were not livable without extreme changes made to them. Sumuda was the best candidate for the Resistance to keep in contact with new and reemerging allies.

The weather was warmer, the sky a gentle violet through daylight hours, turning magenta and then deep purple and black as the evenings progressed. Poe had told Finn that it felt like the ending of spring, turning gently into summer. It was similar to the moon that he’d grown up on, Poe explained. With the jungles and the trees with purple bark. Finn could imagine Poe climbing them, reaching heights that could only be rivaled in his x-wing. The temperate planet could pass as beautiful, covered with deep green forests that produced rough, strange smelling, but edible fruit and the occasional, massive purple trees that housed monkey-like creatures. The Resistance had landed in a rocky, almost mountainous region, where farming would have been difficult, so there were no settlements.

While scouting, the Finn and Poe had found a beach. Or rather, Poe insisted it was a beach, while later, others argued that “beach” was a generous designation.

Following the trajectory of a waterfall down a rugged cliff, they had found the mouth of a cave concealed at its base. They had thought they would find some more cover, a place to stash supplies, and possibly hide.

Inside, the rock they tread on gradually grew softer, giving way to dirt and red clay. Then, through the darkness, they saw light. The stony ceiling disappeared, letting sunlight stream into the water. Rubble and large rocks lay scattered along the shoreline. An enormous one peaked up through the middle of the water, like a small island with a smaller, spindly tree growing atop. Before the cave-in, it had all been subterranean. The sunlight and loose soil and clay allowed for some trees and orange grass to grow along the red banks.

Testing the water, Poe had found it was mostly clean and, more importantly, according to him, quite warm. In the growing heat of the day, he had jumped right in and splashed Finn.

It hadn’t taken much convincing for Leia to let people take some time off to relax, and lope around. In shifts, always with enough people on duty to continue with set up and to warn the others, should some emergency occur, Finn watched Poe show the others how to get down there. He himself had politely refused, insisting that there was too much to do. He had resisted even Rey and Rose when they had asked him to come along.

There is too much to do, Finn had insisted. They had the desperate need to get the base set up, to continue contacting allies and to reach out and recruit, to build their numbers.

It was Leia, no doubt asked by Poe, who told him to take a break. He couldn’t keep working. He would overwork himself and then be useless. Or worse, his exhaustion would cause him to make a mistake and cause even more damage. It was that last point that did the trick.

Finn wondered if she could see it in his eyes, something that went beyond need or a simple desire to be helpful. If she could see his desperation or his guilt.

“Get your toes wet,” had been the last marching order he’d received. Minutes later, he was following Rey and Poe back down to the water.

Like any good soldier, Finn wanted to keep going until the job was done. Still, with Rey walking a few feet ahead of him on the narrow path, it wasn’t an entirely unwelcome break. He could see her hair bounce, as she kept a quick pace to follow Poe through the maze of forest. He kept close behind her, down the steep trek to the water and through the dark of the caves, until they arrived at the lake. Since her return, she had been spending a great deal of time with General Organa, discussing Kylo Ren’s ascent to head of the First Order. It made Finn sick to think about.

Finn turned to Poe to ask, somewhat mystified, “Now what?”

“Whatever you want,” he said. “It’s your day off!”

“There’s still no sign of any man-killing or maiming creatures in there, are there?” Rey asked, nodding to the water.

 _She’d been before_ , Finn thought. _Didn’t she know?_

“No,” Poe said. “There are fish and some smaller lifeforms, but no carnivores big enough to attack us. The lake’s too small for anything too big, you know.”

That seemed to satisfy Rey and she began to take her shoes off.

Finn was more concerned with the large amount of other people who had been swimming and bathing in it. “Is it… nice in there?”

“Yeah, I think so. I’ve never gone swimming before,” Rey said simply. After her shoes, she began to strip off her clothes.

This temporarily distracted both Finn and Poe who were not sure where to look. “ _Wait_ , do you know how to swim?” Poe asked suddenly, staring hard at her forehead.

“Can’t be too hard,” she replied. She was then down to her underthings.

 “Don’t go too deep, then!” he shouted after her. “Do _you_ know how to swim?” Poe questioned Finn.

Finn wasn’t exactly listening. _Don’t look at her. Don’t look down and don’t look at her. You are blind, completely blind until you both get in the water. Close your eyes and use the force to find the water,_ he recited. _If you_ do _look, don’t you dare enjoy it._

“Finn, buddy, you all right?” Poe repeated loudly.

“Hm?”

“Do you know how to swim?”

Rey was already ankle deep, and continuing to wade in. It was safe to look at the general area around Poe again

“Didn’t she go swimming before?” Finn asked. She’d gone down without him with Rose.

“No, Rose’s bandages couldn’t get wet, so they stayed on the shore talking, mostly.”

“Ah.” It was nice that they had become friends since Rey’s return. At first, Rose had initially been a little awestruck and Rey, a woman who had largely grown up in isolation on Jakku, had been a little standoffish.

“Finn, you do know how to swim, right?” Poe pushed again.

 “I—uh, yeah, mostly. There was some basic stuff that I learned when I was younger. I can just... figure the rest out though. Or the force will help. If I forget anything that is. Which I won’t. I’ll keep an eye on her. She’s safe with me,” Finn insisted.

“Suddenly I’m less worried about her…”

“Hey, shouldn’t you be getting back anyways. I can… you know… save her. I mean swim.” Finn started to hop out of his shoes and then his pants.

“Didn’t either of you bring or borrow bathing suits?” Poe asked.

“What’s that?” Rey called. She was up to her waist and had stopped to see what was taking Finn so long.

“Yeah, what’s that?” Finn asked before shucking off his shirt.

“You know, specialized clothes that… neither of you have heard of swimwear before?” Poe asked, thick brows furrowing. Rey hailed from a desert planet and would never have needed anything like that growing up and Finn couldn't remember such a thing growing up.

He and Rey shrugged at Poe.

“You two will be okay, right?” Poe called.

“Yea, of course!” Rey replied, a little indignantly.

Finn jumped in and chased Rey, splashing excessively. She let out a shriek of surprise and splashed him right back.

“I’ll see you two later. Keep your communicators on,” Poe yelled before retreating.

Finn turned back to wave at his friend, which turned out to be a mistake. A wave so big, Rey could only have used the force to create it, crashed over his head.

His anxiety dissipated slowly as he heard Rey’s laughter and as he watched her run through the water. He used what little he could remember from swimming lessons to doggy paddle after her. Not going deeper than her midriff, she ran parallel with the shore. He caught her and dunked her quite easily. This expelled a series of shrieks and giggles and the threat, “I’ll get you for that!”

They went back and forth like that for some time, shouting, laughing, splashing and spitting water at each other. Finn lost track of himself and his other worries, the base, Rose’s injuries, the Resistance’s depleted numbers, finding more supplies and allies, staying hidden from the First Order before they were ready to defend themselves. He didn’t even notice how tired he was until Rey, much redder in the face than usual, suggested they take a break.

They staggered out of the water and couldn’t get too far. They may not have been in the water for more than an hour, but the weeks of strain caught up with Finn like a wave greater than any of the ones Rey had splashed him with. He collapsed under a nearby tree, his legs like jelly, his chest heaving deep sighs. Rey slid down next to him. They stared up through the branches, and then she slid closer to him and he put his arm around her, pulling her close so that he could feel each breath she took. Exhausted and totally and utterly at peace, his eyelids slid shut.

***

They awoke slowly, an hour later, at the sound of a passing bird above. It was green and blue and had massive orange tail feathers, much longer than Finn’s legs.

“This is nice,” Rey said softly, her hair tickling his neck.

“Yeah,” Finn agreed.

“We haven’t had a moment to ourselves in ages. I,” she pauses for a moment before continuing, “I thought you were avoiding me.”

Finn blinked in surprise and a new feeling of guilt pooled into his stomach. “No, I wouldn’t do that! I was just… I’ve just been busy.”

“We’ve all been busy, Finn. You’ve been strange since I got back. Since… you were injured. Are you—Finn, are you mad at me?” she demanded.

He jerked up, tilting his head and straining his neck to look at her. She met his stare of disbelief evenly. “ _What?_ No, I’m—Rey, it’s not you I’m mad at.”

“Then who? What is happening with you? You’ve barely spoken to me or Poe since you’ve been back.”

“What, have you two been comparing notes?”

She didn’t deny it, and rather shrugged slightly. They had. “We’re worried about you, Finn,” her voice was quiet. “We want you to be okay. We _all_ want you to be okay.”

He struggled to sit up and she pulled away from him to accommodate. They sat cross-legged, knees touching, face to face. “You’ve all been talking about me? Leia, Chewie? Rose? Hell, BB-8?”

“Because we _care_ about you!” Rey snapped. “Would you rather we not?”

“Aren’t there a million better things to care about? Especially now, after we were decimated?”

“Not really!” Rey intoned. “You’re my best friend and you’ve been avoiding me!”

“There are a million things you _should_ care about before me. Rey, I… I’m the reason why our numbers are so low. Didn’t anyone tell you that? If it hadn’t been for me, the First Order wouldn’t have found out about our transports leaving the fleet.”

“I heard about this from Poe and Rose. They said it wasn’t your fault. You were betrayed! You didn’t fire on those ships. Hux and Kylo Ren did!”

“If it weren’t for me,” Finn ground out in a low voice, “they never would have found the damn ships.”

“You don’t know that!” she insisted, desperately. “And even if it were, how would that make me stop caring about you? Finn, how could I ever stop caring about you?”

A silence fell between them. Finn stared at her, eyes wide. Something akin to relief began to take root and spread through his chest. He looked down, breathing slowly.

“You—you really mean that?” he asked, hesitantly.

“Of course, I do, Finn.”

“I just wanted to help you,” he told her, his voice tight. He met her eyes, almost reluctantly. “You and Chewie. I just wanted it to be safe for you two to get back and I messed up. I wasn’t even _thinking_ about the resistance. I was just thinking about you.”

 “I made it back,” she whispered. “I’m okay. Finn, I’ll always find my way back to you.”

They stared at each other for a long moment. The heaviness of their words sat between them and the weight felt comfortable, warm even. Her low, brittle voice pulled his chest taught and without thinking it through, he pulled her into him, wrapping his arms around her again. She smelled like the Millennium Falcon’s fuel, the fresh lake water, and a hint of something metallic. A sense of ease enfolded him. A calm he feared he'd never regain.

“I’m so glad you’re back safe,” he whispered into ear. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“I thought you were mad at me,” she said, her breath caressing his neck.

“What? Why?”

“I—I tried to turn Kylo Ren and I failed. I could have rejoined the fleet and help—”

“If it was not my fault that Ren and Hux fired on the transport, then it’s not your fault Ren didn’t turn. He turned away from Leia and he wouldn’t turn for Han. His own damn parents. His doing is his own fault.” Finn spoke with a vehemence that he didn’t know he still possessed. But it was like Leia and Luke had said, he supposed. The spark of the resistance hadn’t gone out. It had only temporarily dimmed. “Are you crying?”

She pulled away from him suddenly. “No!” she croaked, as she wiped her nose. “I’m not crying, I’m just… I’m just so, very tired.”

“Me too.”

And they both laughed, at the relief of it all, at the release of so many dark thoughts and fears leaving them. At the ineffable and complete contentment they brought each other. They laid back down. On the banks, curled so tightly into each other that Finn lost track of where he began and where she ended, they drifted off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! I spent more time working on setting than I usually do so I hope that there isn’t too much of it/not a distraction to the… plot and cuddling :)  
> This will be my last fanfic for a while. The semester is starting, but I'll come at you when I can with some domestic finnrey.


End file.
